Let the Games begin - please! Day one in Athens dragged on way too long. From the crack of dawn with the most bizarre drugs story in Olympic history to an opening ceremony that tested the limits of both theatrics and human endurance, the Greeks made at least one thing clear. The Games have come home to roost, writes Ian O'Riordan, in Athens
Normally the word spectacular is first applied to the opening ceremony. Yesterday in Athens it applied more to the level of Greek embarrassment surrounding the case of their favourite Olympic figure, the 200-metre champion Kostas Kenteris.
Along with Greece's best woman athlete, 100-metre hope Katerina Thanou, he is accused of blatant drug-test dodging that by Monday could have them both thrown out of the Games. For now Kenteris and Thanou are in an Athens hospital recovering from a motorcycle crash on Thursday night. Neither athlete was seriously injured but exactly how they crashed is just part of an undeniable air of suspicion now surrounding them.
By the time the opening ceremony began the rumours about Kenteris and Thanou were still brewing. And the talk was of who would now light the Olympic flame, an honour almost certain to have been bestowed on Kenteris before his sudden fall from grace.
That rumour at least was ended by Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, the 35-year-old Olympic sailor who, back in 1996, struck gold in Atlanta. It was he who against all expectations completed the 78-day journey of the Olympic flame across 26 countries, and lit the jet-like Olympic flame that majestically lowered to greet him.
